The Oatridge School for Boys, Staten Island, New York. A large young man stands at the front of a classroom. ‘I’ve never been any good at this kinda stuff, but…here goes’ he begins, as he introduces himself as Elvin Haliday, explaining that he is kinda new here. He adds that he knows there are some other famous students here, kids whose parents are celebrities and stuff. ‘But I think I’m kinda unique. You might’ve heard of me. I’m a super hero named Rage, and I was in a team called the New Warriors’ he tells the students. Elvin informs the students that the teacher asked if he would tell them about his life as a super hero, and about the New Warriors. With some notes in his hands, Elvin explains that it started when he got exposed to some radioactive waste, that it did stuff to his body, made him all big an muscular. ‘Even though I look like an adult, I’m still a kid, just like you guys’ Rage reveals.
Flashback images, narrated by Rage:
Rage announces that his friends, the New Warriors, got started when an alien “dude” named Terrax went on a rampage. ‘Six teenage super heroes showed up and stopped him. Speedball, Firestar, Namorita, Marvel Boy, Nova and Night Thrasher decided to stay together - as the New Warriors’. Rage explains that he was spending time with the Avengers, but that the Warriors convinced him to help them steal a Quinjet, and the Avengers were not too pleased with him, so kicked him off the team, however the Warriors felt bad for him getting in trouble with the Avengers, so they offered him membership in their team.
‘Things were never dull with the Warriors, that’s for sure’ Elvin tells the students, but assures them that doesn’t mean it was all fun and games either, as he reveals that Marvel Boy accidentally killed his abusive father and was sent to jail for negligent homicide, while Elvin lost his Granny, as a street gang with a grudge against the Warriors got hold of the names of their loved ones, and began to terrorize them. ‘They blew up my house. My granny died in my arms’ Elvin announces. ‘It’s stuff like that that made us grow up fast’ Rage points out, adding that it wasn’t all tragedy, as for all their bickering, Nova and Namorita realized they had a thing for each other, and Marvel Boy got out of prison early for good behavior, although prison life changed him, made him harder, and he started calling himself Justice.
Rage continues, revealing that, over time, the team came into contact with a lot of young super heroes, and the team became huge, but that for various reasons, certain members took off and the team stayed a pretty manageable size, but that he and Night Thrasher made some decisions that the rest of the Warriors didn’t agree with, and they were voted out of the team. ‘That goes down as one of the worst days of my life’ Rage admits, before adding that you can’t separate good friends forever, and he and Night Thrasher ended up sharing another adventure with the Warriors, and they decided to bury the hatchet and stay together like they were always meant to.
Present:
‘Sometimes even the best intentions can go sour, you know?’ Rage remarks, explaining that the Warriors started spending less and less time together, and recently, they formally broke up when a lot of the core members decided to go their separate ways. ‘But just because people change, doesn’t mean they become less important’ Elvin declares, stating that he still sounds the Warriors as his best friends, no matter where they are. Elvin asks the class if anyone has any questions or anything, to which one student raises his hand and asks ‘Yeah, like, did Namorita’s bikini ever fall off in battle?’. Elvin just sighs.
Meanwhile, in Greenwich Village, at the same time, in a different school, Robbie “Speedball” Baldwin is in class, sketching images of his former teammates in his exercise book. ‘Rage. Yeah…once Rage sees that his old buddy Speedball wants to re-form the Warriors, he’ll have to join’ Robbie tells himself, before drawing illustrations of Justice and Firestar, deciding that he will get Justice second, and Firestar, and although he knows they are Avengers now, he can press the right “nostalgia buttons” and they will come running back. ‘And Namorita! Yeah! Every team needs a babe in a bikini!’ Robbie thinks to himself as he draws the scantily clad young woman.
‘Mister Baldwin!’ a voice calls out. ‘Yipe! Um…yes Sir?’ Robbie asks, looking up to find the teacher standing over him. ‘Considering your last test score, I think you’d be better served saving your doodling for art class. Don’t you agree?’ the teacher remarks. Robbie smiles, and tells his teacher that he will do just that, before getting back to his illustrations, wondering what other former Warriors he can put the squeeze on. ‘Hindsight Lad!’ Robbie decides as he draws the pudgy young hero. ‘Nah! I’m not that desperate!’ Robbie tells himself as he erases the illustration of Hindsight Lad.
At New York’s East River, Namorita is battling the villain called Orka in the river itself. Using her incredible strength, she forces him up on to a dock where a man is fishing, only he runs away in fright. ‘Why do you insist on doing this the hard way?’ Namorita asks her foe, telling him that he is going to regret it in the long run. ‘I regret NOTHING!’ Orka booms as he punches Namorita hard, smacking her backwards across the dock. ‘Tell me - is that all you’ve got?’ he calls out to her. ‘Funny how -’ Orka begins, when he is attacked from behind, and knocked to the ground, as Rich Rider a.k.a. Nova appears behind him. ‘Blue Blazes! Too bad the press isn’t here! I took him down on my first pass!’ Nova exclaims.
‘Only because I weakened him for you’ Namorita tells him, before asking her ex why he is horning in on her action. She points out that Orka is an Atlantean criminal, and that she had the situation perfectly under control. ‘Yeah, I could tell that from the way you were hitting his fist with your face’ Nova jokes. Namorita angrily tells Nova that she wants to be clear about something: ‘Back when my body was mutating, you abounded me. I needed you then. I don’t now’ she exclaims as she takes Orka and dives back into the water. ‘Yeah…too bad the press isn’t here’ Nova sighs as he watches Namorita depart.
Meantime, at St Joseph’s Cemetery, in Long Island, New York. Michiko “Mickey” Musashi a.k.a. Turbo stands over a grave, wearing her Turbo armor. ‘Hey. I know it’s been awhile since I’ve been able to visit, but you know me - always on the go’ she calls out. She announces that her folks are still on her case about finding a nice Japanese boy to take care of. ‘Forget about what I want, you know?’ she remarks, adding that she landed a spot on the campus newspaper at school, and while it isn’t hard-hitting journalism by any means, Ben Urich’s career didn’t start overnight. ‘And then there’s that little matter of trying to make the world abetter place. You know how it is…Mike’ Mickey tells her dear friend, Mike Jeffries as she continues to look down at his rave, marked “Son. Brother. Hero”.
‘God, I miss you. If it hadn’t been for you finding this suit, I’d…we’d…never have become Turbo’ Mickey remarks, adding that she knows it wasn’t easy for Mike when it became obvious that she took to the suit more naturally than he did, but that she wanted him to know that she couldn’t have ever asked for a better partner than he. Hanging her head, Mickey adds that she would give anything if it could have been her that Volx tracked down and murdered, just for the stupid suit.
‘But hey, enough of the mushy stuff, hunh? You’ve heard it all before’ Mickey remarks, announcing that she was going through some things Mike’s mom sent over the other day and she found some sketches. ‘You were always trying to make the suit look cooler, and since it responds so well to my thoughts, well…I thought you’d like this. It’s your design, after all’ Turbo declares as she transforms the battle suit, changing it to a darker blue and adding chunkier boots and gloves, matching piping that runs up the legs, shoulder pads, and a utility belt, while the mask changes to a more sleeker design, without the large headpiece, and the pink visor is gone. Solemnly, Mickey tells her friend that she just wants to do right by him and promises not to let too much time go by before she visits again.
Elsewhere, specifically the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn, where a young man with dreadlocks walks down a deserted alleyway, thinking to himself that walking home from school takes twice as long since he has to be sure not to cross any gang turf. ‘Just gotta keep telling himself that once I’m outta school I can get out of this -’ he thinks to himself, when suddenly, he hears a strange noise: OOOOMMMM echoing from nearby. He deduces that the noise is coming from an abandoned building, and decides that nobody should be inside, as it is falling apart. Nevertheless, he enters and calls out, but gets no response. He notices that the sound is getting louder, that he is getting closer to it. ‘My GOD!’ the young man shouts as he sees a golden chest plate lying amongst some rubble. ‘The sound is coming from that thing!’ the young man realizes, shocked.
Meanwhile, in Altamont Springs, Florida, the young mutant called Chris Bradley a.k.a. Bolt has written a letter to his parents. In it, he tells them that this is probably the hardest decision he has ever made, and that it is not one he makes lightly. He says that everything that has happened to him in the past year or so has been leading up to this moment, and admits that he knows most kids think their lives a messed up, but that they have to admit that being a mutant pretty much takes the cake. Chris tells his parents that the brief time he spent with Professor Xavier and the X-Men really helped him make sense of things, but that even they couldn’t prepare him for the fact that he had the Legacy Virus. He tells his parents that he put on a brace front for them a lot of the time, but that the disease really scares him sometimes, as not only has it severely affected his health, but it also makes his electrical powers that much harder to control.
Chris’s letter tells his parents that he knows they and Jenn made a big sacrifice for him, moving from New York to Florida and adopting new identities to protect him from the mutant haters is a big deal. He tells them that he doesn’t want to sound ungrateful, but that he can’t hide out while mutants are being persecuted simply for being different. His letter states that the X-Men are out there on the front line, fighting for mutant rights, so it is time he followed their lead, in his own way. He adds that he knows it sounds corny, but that he needs to make a difference in the world. He asks his parents not to worry about him, and assures them he will make them proud, as he is going to become a hero. At a bus station, Chris pays for his ticket, before sighing and getting on a bus, headed for New York, for the next stage in his life.
